MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Ministries of Culture and Foreign Relations refused to lend to the Government of Valencia, Spainthe paintings of the painter Joaquín Sorolla that They are in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana.in accordance with a report from the independent newspaper 14ymedio.
The refusal came after seven years of negotiations, since the loan was planned to commemorate the centenary of the painter’s death.
In accordance with 14ymedioCarmen Amoraga, General Director of Culture and Heritage of the Generalitat, publicly stated that the Cuban Government had decided to suspend the loan, alleging that the international situation was not propitious.
The decision would have been made in the “high spheres”, between the Ministry of Culture and the Foreign Ministry, according to a collector of Cuban origin who has followed the case and who was consulted by the aforementioned media.
In 2016, a delegation of Valencian businessmen, headed by the president of the Autonomous Community, Ximo Puig, traveled to Havana, and their Havana partners had considered temporarily ceding around thirty paintings by Sorolla, in addition to other works by Valencian artists.
In the event that the loan materialized, Spain would have to clean and restore the paintings, in addition to paying for their transfer from the Island.
In 2019, Carmen Amoraga traveled to the Cuban capital, but after reviewing the state of the Sorollas, no deal was closed with the Cuban government. Everything seemed to indicate that the paintings would travel to Spain in 2023, but there would no longer be 30 but only 10, since some paintings were subject to litigation and could not leave Cuba.
The Cuban regime, currently tense with numerous debts, stole almost all the art that its art galleries house from their rightful owners. This is the reason for the fear of the authorities, who are not willing to risk another litigation in the field of international law.
